Molly, a popular and dangerous party drug

As temperatures rise across Central California, local police are also seeing more teens using a popular and dangerous party drug.

In pill form, the drug is commonly known as "ecstasy." But in crystal or powder form, it's called "molly."

You don't have to be at a rave in Vegas, to get molly. A former drug dealer says it's widely available, even in the Central Valley.

"It's getting really popular in Clovis. Really really popular in Clovis. I'd say in Fresno, it's more popular everyone already does it in Fresno."

Many young people from Central California traveled nearly 400 hundred miles last weekend to a mass party in Nevada. Several admitted they were under the influence of MDMA or molly.

A Fresno teen Action News spoke with, says he has used the drug several times.

"Like no matter what happens, like what can go wrong, it won't go wrong. It may go wrong for you- but on the inside you are having the best time of your life."

This young man is a convicted molly dealer. He says pushing the drug is easy, mainly because of the buzz surrounding it. Rap songs often mention molly or the drugs side effects. Even Madonna references molly.

"Here in the Central Valley you will see it at house parties, concerts, just day to day use."

Even though many say molly is a pure form of ecstasy, it's usually cut with other drugs. These 'add in's' can be highly addictive and dangerous because it is laced with drugs like cocaine and meth.

Fresno County Sheriff's Lieutenant Rick Ko says parents can be looking out for a few obvious signs of molly. "Some of the symptoms that someone is under the influence of molly is they are sweating, they are grinding their teeth. A lot of times they will use a ring pop or a sucker to suck on."

Molly comes in both powder and gel capsules. The pills have a pungent black licorice smell and the powder also has a very distinguishing characteristic.

"It's just like this musty, burnt hair smell."

Molly costs $10.00 to $15.00 for one dose. This drug dealer says he sold molly to hundreds of high school age students.

"I don't know a lot of people over the age group of 25 that would do molly. It's basically probably around like 16 to about 21."

Police say molly is in high demand at specific times of the year, especially summertime.

This dealer says he sold molly for three years and could always count on a spike in business during certain times of the year.

"Halloween is a big time of the year, New Year's, all sorts of concerts. When Wiz Khalifa came."

But, there is a very dark side to molly. Especially when the drug is used in hot, crowded environments when users are exerting a lot of energy.

Many have been rushed to emergency rooms after taking large doses. The drug can stop regulating body temperature and excessive sweating often causes severe dehydration.

This user says he took several hits in one evening and after a scare decided to stop, for good.

"You don't really know what's going to happen to your body because people don't really know what it is. And I still don't know exactly what's in it."

Since molly comes from different underground labs, even those selling it admit, the biggest danger is there's really no way to determine what each hit contains.

"A lot of times what people do is they put more meth in in than they do actual molly because meth is way cheaper than ecstasy is."

After the three hour high comes the severe low. Many users report hangover like symptoms and even severe depression. Some users say they weren't able to get out of bed for days at a time.